A general note: This is a true rewrite of the rules. This is not Windows 8 from Windows 7 nor is it 7th ed from 6th ed. In other words, it is a rewrite of core "feel," including major components of how the game plays at its core in addition to a rewrite of much of the small stuff. This is not to say that the new game will suddenly be Warmahordes; there are still plenty of things that will make it look like old 40k.

The goal is asymmetry for every army in the 40k universe. I'll just point out right now that the game is essentially diceless at its core (this will change somewhat and certain armies won't be). The book is in a relatively malleable place where I have the main framework down but how much design space any individual codex will have might push things around as I build them. Because of the defederalization and the design shift to asymmetry, some sections of the rules won't be fleshed out until multiple codexes are close to finished. The metagame might even need to have a balance in some cases; I'm not sure yet.

Codexes would be released in pairs, essentially as expansions, if I had control over the official apparatus. Space Marine-only designs (i.e. Black Templar, Blood Angels, Space Wolves, and yes, Grey Knights, will only go forward if there is a compelling central design to explore with them that is interesting and fundamentally different from the core Marines book in some way. This goes for any expansion splats, from Craftworld Eldar to Sicarii to Genestealer Cults. Huge giant big monsters/robots/IA/Apocalypse splats won't come until after each army has been introduced.

Overall plan - dates are not deadlines but based somewhat conservatively on how long things can take going solo on this. Helpers might dramatically increase the timetable. PM me if interested. This is a labor of love, and will take time when I'm not working and have the energy to focus on this 100%.

Era I: Core Design
"Starter Box" Codexes - Space Marines and Tyranids 2020
"The Young and the Restless" Codexes - Eldar and Tau 2022

Era II: Large-scale Playtest and Metagame Balancing
Complete Rulebook in alpha form - 2024
"The Great Enemies" Codexes - Imperial Armies and Armies of Chaos 2025
"Dead or Alive" Codexes - Orks and Necrons 2027

Era III: Continued Playtest and Power Balancing
Complete Rulebook in beta form - 2028
"The Pure and the Wicked" - Sisters of Battle and Dark Eldar 2030

Era IV: Fine-tuning and finishing touches; release
Complete Release of Compiled Edition - 2031
Expansions/splats - ???

Current progress:
This is the core rules I'm working on. In the current era, I'm working on building game rituals and getting core playability up and running. This means that game terms and other technical writing points might not be perfect until the central design of the first four codexes takes functional shape. Like I realized I forgot rules for Characters until just recently .

Core Rulebook --> I still think structures are odd outside of campaigns, and so am less interested in finishing them. Army building is something I'm excited to get to, but will have to wait a good while. Nothing is sacred; whole Section Types could go for all I know.

Codex: Astartes -->
What Things Are aka How to Read this Codex
Special Rules - overall special rules and Defensive Tactics
Unit Entries (Needs Better Title)
Wargear List (Also Better Name) and “Warlord Traits”
Psychic Powers
Army List Entries

Codex: Tyranids --> All of it; just started

1. To develop a game with high replay and cross-army play value
Honestly, from a design perspective, the current difference between each different army is small. This means I can essentially know the core of the play experience of any given army while never having actually played with that army. I can do a lot within the rules to choose different strategies within a given codex, but all of those strategies boil down to the same core components, no matter which codex I use. The flavor and uniqueness of an experience is miniscule when it comes to how the game actually plays and operates between armies.

2. To develop a simple game with expansive depth
It's a tabletop miniatures game, so "simple" here should be taken with that grain of salt. However, there is NO REASON AT ALL that I should have to buy a new bookshelf and get a doctorate in gaming rules to play any game in 2017. Period. See quants below.

3. To create a balanced (and hopefully imperfectly balanced at that) metagame
40k has for years been a case of money-grabbing assumptions, one of which this point aims to address. Releasing a new army and having it be the most powerful is not just patronizing, it's wrong. Having units that are truly unique to each army that are uniquely powerful for different reasons is something the game hasn't really had, im my experience. Terminators, CSM Terminators, Nobz in mega-armor, Paladains, Lychguard, etc. should be interesting in their own right, not because they share the same general characteristics.

4. To provide a clear, reasonably concise ruleset with updated Amendments, Errata, and FAQs &
5. To provide such updates with the primary concern of addressing common play issues
So this is something that I value, but realistically as part of the project won't even be a thing until well into era II due to the totality of the newness of things.

6. To use all existing models in the new ruleset
I've been gone since before 7th ed dropped. I understand the scope of the game has gotten exponentially worse in this regard. I'll do my best to catch up.

7. To provide a comprehensive ruleset, with metarules included in the text, rather than assumed
Yeah, this has obviously never been the case. Hedon monsters being able to "reasonably" decide how core rules of the game can work on a 4+ hasn't cut it ever, and is already gone from my rules as of this posting.

8. To make each player types’ enjoyment represented and validated
There are more people in the world than me. This is an important thing to understand as a designer. Of course, accomodating people with different interests in the game will take a bit after I finish the core design, but it is something I actually plan to do, unlike GW.

9. To promote immersion in generalship and play, and not understanding of minutiae
Here's a radical idea: a game that focuses on tactics, movement, and allocation during play, rather than rediculous tables and excessive minutiae in places it shouldn't need to exist. An overall strategy that ties an army together, rather than a patchwork of units that are all focused on being good according to an overly federalized system.

10. To allow the scale of the only army battle game to remain at its epic level
With the goals here in mind, it's important not to lose sight of the thing that truly makes 40k unique among miniatures games. It shouldn't just be about a warlord or special character; it also needs to be about scale and having freedom to make decisions at a unit level.

11. To create a game that is overall more fun and engaging than 40k
To be completely clear: I do not think this is a high bar. Just so my biases are out there. I don't mean to say any individual person or designer is bad at their job, other than the folks in charge of GW itself.

12. To contain the same amount of modularity as modern 40k with minimal rules to support it
There are lots of different systems in 40k, but a rule set needs to accomplish these core concepts with a lower wordcount and a lot less flavor. There will be a step-by-step "let's play" released somewhere along the way to walk players through a less lawyerly game, but I am 100% confident I can accomplish both a functional play document and comp rules with less page space and more efficient page use than GW, even if I make it on google docs without a fancy design program.

13. To remove high-cost, randomized, and punishing game mechanics from all aspects of play
Holy crap do I dislike this stuff. What terrible mechanics to punish players with. Deep striking units just getting vaporized for no reason? Random boxcars killing a unit through leadership? Failed short-range charges? 4 turns in difficult terrain for NO REASON other than the rules hate the players. I'm not saying no random effects or funny situations; I'm saying it is sooo far past time to stop punishing players for wanting to play the game.

14. To add a commitment to integrative diversity through justice, removing as much toxic material as possible
I know this community, and so do you. We have serious issues with misogyny, racism, homophobia, transphobia, fatphobia, etc etc etc. Honestly a ton of this is baked into the game's core, so it will be hard to remove, but it is a cancer to require minority players to deal with this stuff constantly because the rules and/or models say so.

1. To Finish the core rules and armies’ codices

2. To build a centralized, object-oriented rules set that emphasizes uncertainty regardless of randomness
News flash: uncertainty doesn't require 150% reliance on dice, or even randomness!

3. To build individual, heavily thematic game rituals for each army and variations for each unit
You'll see what this looks like (relatively) soon; this is the fundamental goal on which the design is based, and I promise it will be worth the wait

4. To write a rulebook that is targeted at 100 pages or less of actual rules, and a ruleset that is under 500.
Anyone have a page count on the ruleset? EGAD.

5. To design more armies only when each model and army has thoroughly playtested rules and metagame balance


6. Unit size will be directly related to model count of miniature packaging

1. To provide a distinct feel and to demonstrate the elite and heroic nature of each marine

2. To represent the exceptional resources and equipment bestowed to marines

3. To provide for chapter customization

4. Emphasis on resistances to damage

5. Emphasis on squad-based combat and army cohesiveness

6. Emphasis on well-roundedness and toughness

1. Provide ten viable chapter builds

2. Tactics mechanic & Multi-squad/army-wide teamwork mechanic
This mechanic has been merged with #4

3. Specialization mechanic in army creation

4. Heroism/Feat of bravery mechanic
This mechanic hsa been merged with #2

5. Contains perfect imbalance staple - Terminators

1. To provide a distinct feel to the alien and insect-like nature of the species

2. To create an elegant genetic modification system

3. To create a relationship between horde and godzilla units centered on a hive mind model
This has been determined; see quants for overview

4. Emphasis on poison, and Psychic damage types

5. Emphasis on fear

1. To provide 3 viable build options

2. A pheromone-based army-wide mechanic
This has been determined; it's awesome (it's a big reason I felt this entire project was worth it).

3. An adaptation mechanic based on the army they are fighting

4. A horde-based mechanic
Very similar to 5, interfaces modularly with 6.

5. A godzilla-based mechanic
Very similar to 4, interfaces modularly with 6.

6. Hive mind mechanic
Interfaces modularly with 4 and 5. DOESN'T MAKE YOUR ARMY UNPLAYABLE IF MOMMA DIES. But also, WHEN MOMMA DIES IT MATTERS.

7. Genetic mutation mechanic

It's been ages since I've been to Dakka, and with good reason. I haven't played 40k in years.

I used to play competitive 40k all accross the midwest of the US. I put lots of love and energy into playing the game, traveling thousands of miles and spending thousands of dollars as well as hundreds of hours doing 40k all the time. I will be frank: I was a lurker and lawyer on the YMDC forum for a long time, long enough to remember GWAR and to have worked together on a couple things. I say that to say this: the 40k universe was my home in a lot of ways, and my favorite parts specifically were the rules and design of the game.

And those of us who have played since then know that those components, especially then, were sorely lacking. The game was labyrinthine, wordy, unclear, poorly designed, inelegant, and lacked in evoking the spirit of the rich IP that GW has developed or had developed for them in their RPGs and novels. Maybe it still is; I don't know.

What took me out of the game over time was the constant frustration of dealing with these things, as well as GW's really mean-spirited business practices. The breaking point was specifically at Adepticon, where I lost a chance at the sweet 16, a fairly important cut-off to competitive players. This was because I was frustrated the judges ruled against the way I had been playing for months all across the region, even though I made a repeated, expansive FAQ request to them, specifically mentioning the rules issue in question prior to the event.

It was the breaking point because I felt powerless, having done everything I could think of at the time to flag and mention the issues beforehand. I was literally told that it wasn't a big deal, and that the INAT was as-is for the event. And honestly, it's not the people at INAT's fault or Adepticon's fault that they had to write a whole new rulebook worth of information to accommodate a broken game system. They were doing the best they could; I was doing the best I could...it really comes down to GW's failures.

I've grown up a lot since then, but I also yearn for something better; I hope one day to return to playing a game I love with friends I hold dear who I've long since lost touch with since our interests waned. I've also been working on a project since then. Off and on throughout the years, I've been nibbling away at a page one rewrite of the whole thing - the rules system, the codexes, the core design. And I'm not finished. Not sure if I ever will be, honestly. But I wanted to post it here so that others can see it, comment on it, and make it better with advice and criticism.

I post this now because I'm nearing the end of the first draft of the core rules. I don't even know what edition it is out there. 7th, I think? Maybe 8th? And I'm doing it a bit for GW and other players (former and current) so they can see that there's another, better way. Maybe GW is already there. Honestly, I don't have any love for that company at all right now. I'm also doing it for me. If you want to be a part of the project, please sit and have a digital drink with me. Welcome. I might even have some codexes ready for playtesting in another year or two.